Ideal Standard has been awarded the prestigious “Delivering Decarbonisation Award” by Ceramics UK in recognition of our significant strides in reducing carbon emissions.
The award was presented at the Delivering Net Zero Ceramics UK 2024 Conference, honouring our business’ leadership in one of the most energy-intensive industries.
Since becoming part of the Villeroy & Boch Group in March 2024, Ideal Standard has aligned with the group’s ambitious goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040, a decade ahead of EU targets.
The company also aims for its non-ceramic plants – producing taps, showers, and baths, for example – to be carbon neutral by 2030.
Over several years, we have implemented a structured decarbonisation strategy, setting a clear baseline against which to measure improvements.
The Ceramics UK award celebrates our company’s concrete actions in emissions reduction, particularly at the Armitage plant and across global operations, reinforcing our commitment to a greener future for the ceramics industry.
Plant General Manager Mark Barrett said: “Winning this award highlights our dedication to sustainability and innovation. It’s a testament to the hard work of our operations team and the collaboration with central operations and external experts.”
Since 2021, Ideal Standard’s Armitage plant has been powered by renewable energy, reducing CO2 emissions by 2,400 tonnes annually.
A kiln optimisation project resulted in the shutdown of one kiln, saving around 10 million kWh of gas and cutting CO2e by 1,800 tonnes per year.
Additional initiatives include replacing gas heaters with energy-efficient infrared heaters, reducing gas use by 256,000 kWh and improving air quality.
Eliminating single-use plastic shrink wrap saved 418,968 kWh of electricity annually, while a new heat recovery system is projected to save 25,000 kWh per week.